Novalis -

Novalis was a German symphonic-rock band that debuted with the 1973 Brain release Banished Bridge. After the departure of vocalist Jürgen Wenzel, they issued five further Brain albums, peaking in popularity with the 1976/77 albums Sommerabend and Brandung. After their 1978 release Vielleicht bist du ein Clown?, they issued six further albums on assorted labels (Ahorn, Vertigo, Teldec) between 1979 and 1985.

Members: Jürgen Wenzel (vocals, 1971-73), Heino Schünzel (bass, vocals, 1971-80), Lutz Rahn (organ), Hartwig Biereichel (drums), Carlo Karges (guitar, 1974-75), Fred Mühlböck (vocals, 1976-84), Detlef Job (guitar, 1973-85), Ernst Herzner (vocals, 1984-85), Hinrich Schneider (bass, 1983-85)

Background

The band formed in 1971 as Mosaik when singer Jürgen Wenzel and bassist Heino Schünzel placed an ad in a Hamburg newspaper. They were joined by drummer Hartwig Biereichel and organist Lutz Rahn. Biereichel hailed from Greenlight, which had four songs included on the 1970 Somerset compilation Love and Peace.

Mosaik adopted the name Novalis, the pseudonym of 18th-century German Romantic poet and mystic Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772–1801).

Banished Bridge

Novalis released their debut album, Banished Bridge, on May 7, 1973, on Brain.

The album contains four numbers composed by Lutz Rahn with lyrics by Jürgen Wenzel, including the side-long title piece.

Rahn plays organ, piano, mellotron, and synthesizer. Singer Wenzel doubles on acoustic guitar.

A. “Banished Bridge” (17:06)

B1. “High Evolution” (4:27)
B2. “Laughing” (9:10)
B3. “Inside of Me (Inside of You)” (6:40)

Sessions occurred at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios in Hamburg, where Jochen Petersen produced the album in succession with titles by A.R. & Machines, Cornucopia, Thirsty Moon, and Wind. Full Horn soundman Horst Grosse engineered Banished Bridge amid albums by Jane, Lucifer’s Friend, Odin, and Ougenweide.

Banished Bridge appeared in a white gatefold with bold blue letters designed by one Dieter Leppin. The inner-gate shows Novalis seated behind a table of candles.

An edit of “Banished Bridge” (5:36) appears on German Rock Scene, a 1973 Brain/Metronome comp with cuts by Curly Curve, Embryo, Emergency, Guru Guru, Kollektiv, and NEU!

Between the first and second albums, Wenzel quit the music scene.

Novalis

Novalis released their self-titled second album in April 1975 on Brain.

The album presents a five-piece lineup with two new guitarists: Detlef Job and Carlo Karges (an alumnus of Tomorrow’s Gift). They joined keyboardist Lutz Rahn and the ongoing Novalis rhythm section of drummer Hartwig Biereichel and bassist Heino Schünzel, who assumes the vocalist slot.

Karges composed “Sonnengeflecht,” “Es färbte sich die Wiese grün,” and co-wrote “Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hört” with Rahn, who composed “Dronsz” and “Impressionen.” The latter interpolates the Fifth Symphony by Austrian Romantic composer Anton Bruckner (1824–1896).

A1. “Sonnengeflecht” (4:06) [“Solar Plexus”]
A2. “Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hört” (9:16) [“Whoever hears butterflies laugh”]
A3. “Dronsz” (4:53)

B1. “Impressionen” (8:55)
B2. “Es färbte sich die Wiese grün” (8:16) [“The meadow turned green”]

Sessions occurred in February 1975 at Studio Maschen, south of Hamburg. Randy Pie soundman Klaus Thomsen co-mixed Novalis with Scope engineer Volker Heintzen, a subsequent soundman for Virgo and To Be.

Novalis appeared in a gatefold with illustrated birds at high altitude over a curved, aerial view of Earth; overlaid along the bottom third by an Arctic water strip with an apparition of sleeping gypsy woman. The inner-gates contain tealscale performance shots of each member.

Karges joined the Release Music Orchestra for their 1976 third album, Get the Ball. He later surfaced in the NDW act Bleibtreu Revue.

Sommerabend

Novalis released their third album, Sommerabend, in April 1976 on Brain. The title is German for Summer Evening.

Side A contains two half-side pieces: the Lutz Rahn composition “Aufbruch” and Detlef Job’s “Wunderschätze,” the latter based on a 1798 poem by the German Romantic poet ‘Novalis’ Hardenberg.

They recorded the album as a quartet with the Heino/Hartwig rhythm section. Achim Reichel produced Sommerabend and collaborated with Rahn/Job on the title suite.

A1. “Aufbruch” (9:37) [“Departure”]
A2. “Wunderschätze” (10:37) [“Wonder Treasures”]

B1. “Sommerabend” (18:17)
— a. “Wetterleuchten” (3:50) [“‘Weather Lights’]
— b. “Am Strand” (4:20) [“At the Beach”]
— c. “Der Traum” (3:50) [“The Dream”]
— d. “Ein neuer Tag” (4:25) [“A New Day”]
— e. “Ins Licht” (1:52) [“Into the Light”]

Sessions occurred in February 1976 at the Musikstudio in Hamburg, where Reichel produced Sommerabend in sequence with the Ougenweide albums Eulenspiegel and Ohrenschmaus. Horst Grosse engineered Sommerabend after the second Satin Whale album, Lost Mankind. Both albums feature guest chorus vocalist Rale Oberpichler.

Sommerabend features cover art sourced from an 1897 cover illustration for Scribner’s magazine by American painter Maxfield Parrish (1870–1866).

Konzerte

In May 1977, Novalis released Konzerte, a live album culled from winter/spring concert dates, including their February 26 show at the Essener Grugahalle as part of the Brain Festival.

The hour-plus set (62:42) contains renditions of four songs from their eponymous second album (Side A) and two-thirds of Sommerabend (Side B).

Konzerte introduces a new fifth member: singer Fred Mühlböck, who plays electric/acoustic guitar and concert flute.

A1. “Bolero” (0:51)
A2. “Dronsz” (2:41)
A3. “Es färbte sich die Wiese grün” (9:04)
A4. “Impressionen” (10:00)
A5. “Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hört” (9:14)

B1. “Wunderschätze” (11:33)
B2. “Sommerabend” (19:19)
— a. Wetterleuchten
— b. Am Strand
— c. Der Traum
— d. Ein neuer Tag
— e. Ins Licht

Konzerte appeared in a green-framed cover with a circular collage of red-lighted concert pics (front) and a silhouetted seagull mascot (back).

Brandung

Novalis released their fourth album, Brandung, in November 1977 on Brain.

Brandung features the Konzerte quintet with new lead singer Fred Mühlböck, who composed two songs (both based on Hardenberg texts) and co-wrote three-fourths of the title suite (parts b–d) with Lutz Rahn. Detlef Job contributed the opener, “Irgendwo, irgendwann.”

Mühlböck plays acoustic guitar and flute. Rahn’s arsenal features Hammond organ, clavinet, mellotron, PPG synthesizer, Flügel grand piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, and the ARP Solina String Ensemble.

A1. “Irgendwo, irgendwann” (4:35) [“Somewhere, Sometime”]
A2. “Wenn nicht mehr Zahlen und Figuren” (3:03) [“No More Numbers and Figures”]
A3. “Astralis” (8:50)

B1. “Sonnenwende” (16:56) [“Solstice”]
— a. “Brandung” (3:42) [“Surf”]
— b. “Feuer bricht in die Zeit” (3:56) [“Fire Breaks Into Time”]
— c. “Sonnenfinsternis” (3:30) [“Solar Eclipse”]
— d. “Dämmerung” (5:48) [“Dusk”]

Sessions occurred at Russl Tonstudio in Hamburg with Achim Reichel, who produced Brandung in succession with his 1977 solo album, Klabautermann, and the live Ougenweide release, Ungezwungen.

Brandung was mixed by Thomas Kubuck, an engineer on the 1977 Kraftwerk album, Trans Europe Express, and earlier Krautrock titles by Birth Control, Brave New World, Frumpy, and Silberbart.

Brandung appeared in a gatefold that repurposes Neptune’s Horses, an 1897 painting by English artist Walter Crane (1845–1915). The inner-gate contains lyrics and a brass-scale Novalis group photo by Rolf Ambor, a photographer for mid-Sixties German pressings of titles by Esther & Abi, Juliette Greco, and Roland Kirk.

Vielleicht bist du ein Clown?

Novalis released their fifth studio album, Vielleicht bist du ein Clown?, in October 1978 on Brain. The title translates as “Maybe you are a clown?”

The album contains one song each by Detlef Job (“Der Geigenspieler”) and Lutz Rahn (“City-Nord”). Rahn co-wrote the title track with Fred Mühlböck, who composed the album’s balance. He based the closing track on “Hoffnung” (“Hope”), a 1797 poem by German dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805).

Job plays slide and splits electric/acoustic guitar tracks with Mühlböck, who also plays flute and 12-string. Rahn uses the same arsenal of mellotron, piano, clavinet, organ, and polyphonic synthesizer.

A1. “Der Geigenspieler” (8:14) [“The Violin Player”]
A2. “Zingaresca” (5:12)
A3. “Manchmal fällt der Regen eben lang” (3:50) [“Sometimes the rain falls for a long time”]

B1. “Vielleicht bin ich ein Clown?” (6:22)
B2. “City-Nord” (6:07) [“City North”]
B3. “Die Welt wird alt und wieder jung” (4:30) [“The world grows old and young again”]

Clown sessions occurred in September 1978 at Russl Studio with Reichel and Thomas Kukuck, the same team that oversaw the March–May sessions for Solo Trip, an instrumental/electronic solo album by Lutz Rahn, who sports a clown getup on the fisheye cover photo.

Vielleicht bist du ein Clown? features cover imagery by the English post-psych design firm Hipgnosis, whose iconic 1978 credits include covers for Al Stewart (Time Passages), Alan Parsons Project (Pyramid), Be-Bop Deluxe (Drastic Plastic), John Miles (Zaragon), and Peter Gabriel (“scratch”). Clown shows two women, face-to-face with back-blown long hair (Bride of Frankenstein style) on a barren industrial plain under cloudy skies. The backside shows the same location, vacated.

Flossenengel

Novalis released their sixth studio album, Flossenengel, in 1979 on Ahorn. The title translates as “Angel With Fins.”

Lutz Rahn composed “Atlanto” and co-wrote three Side B cuts with Fred Mühlböck, who wrote “Alle wollen leben” and the title-track and co-wrote the balance of Side A with Detlef Job, who contributed “Walzer für einen verlorenen Traum.”

The first and final tracks contain sea recordings of a “singing” whale.

A1. “Atlanto” (5:12) [“Atlantis”]
A2. “Im Brunnen der Erde” (4:28) [“In the Well of the Earth”]
A3. “Brennende Freiheit” (2:20) [“Burning Freedom”]
A4. “Im Netz” (8:38) [“On the Net”]
A5. “Flossenengel” (3:26)

B1. “Walzer für einen verlorenen Traum” (3:27) [“Waltz for a Lost Dream”]
B2. “Sklavenzoo” (6:00) [“Slave Zoo”]
B3. “Alle wollen leben” (4:45) [“Everyone Wants to Live”]
B4. “Rückkehr” (6:00) [“Return”]
B5. “Ob Tier, ob Mensch, ob Baum” (1:50) [“Whether Animal, Human, or Tree”]

Sessions occurred in June/July 1979 at TELDEC Studio in Hamburg with Achim Reichel.

Flossenengel features uncredited cover art of a bird/whale hybrid in high tide near a city skyline. The inner-sleeve has a posed group-shot with Mühlböck reclined at the foreground in tight leather pants.

Augenblicke

Novalis released their seventh studio album, Augenblicke, in 1980 on Ahorn. The title is German for “Moments.”

Lutz Rahn composed “Mit den Zugvögeln” and each side-opener. He co-wrote “Als kleiner Junge” with Fred Mühlböck, who wrote the last two tracks and “Ich hab’ noch nicht gelernt zu lieben.” Mühlböck co-wrote “Herbstwind” with Detlef Job, who contributed “Cassandra.”

Rahn makes use of the PPG Wave computer while Mühlböck expands on the Variophon, an electronic wind instrument presented at the 1980 Frankfurt Music Fair.

A1. “Danmark” (3:30) [“Denmark”]
A2. “Ich hab’ noch nicht gelernt zu lieben” (3:30) [“I haven’t learned to love yet”]
A3. “Cassandra” (3:26)
A4. “Herbstwind” (4:46) [“Autumn Wind”]
A5. “Mit den Zugvögeln” (3:16) [“With the Migratory Birds”]

B1. “Sphinx” (3:25)
B2. “Als kleiner Junge” (5:16) [“As a Little Boy”]
B3. “Magie einer Nacht” (3:55) [“Magic of One Night”]
B4. “Begegnungen” (4:47) [“Encounters”]

Sessions occurred at TELDEC with Achim Reichel and Rozz engineer Klaus Bohlmann, who also worked with Liverpool drummer Roy Dyke (Badger, Ashton Gardner & Dyke) on Power House Boogie, a 1980 collaborative effort with Austrian pianist Axel Zwingenberger.

Augenblicke features a two-tone illustration of a feline face-off in which a white cat fends the advance of a black cat with red eyes (front) and green (back). The inner-sleeve contains a tone-inverted replica of the image. Typographer and graphics artist Ruth Rockenschaub designed Augenblicke in sequence with Reichel’s mime-makeup cover for Ungeschminkt, the German icon’s seventh solo album.

Augenblicke is the final Novalis studio album with bassist and co-founder Heino Schünzel.

Neumond

Novalis released their eighth studio album, Neumond, in 1982 on Vertigo. The title is German for “New Moon.”

The album presents a four-piece Novalis with tenured guitarist/singers Fred Mühlböck, Detlef Job, and the last remaining co-founders: keyboardist Lutz Rahn and drummer Hartwig Biereichel. They recorded Neumond with SFF bassist Heinz Fröhling.

Rahn composed the album’s bookend songs and title track, which features two American musical guests: veteran jazz saxophonist Herb Geller (b. 1928) and New York Broadway musical singer Gillian Scalici.

Lutz co-wrote “Kein Frieden” and “Frühsport im Sachsenwald” with Mühlböck, who wrote the album’s balance apart from “Nachttraum,” a Job co-write.

A1. “Anakonda” (4:03)
A2. “Oft sagt man mehr, wenn man schweigt” (5:13) [“Often you say more when you remain silent”]
A3. “Frühsport im Sachsenwald” (5:48) [“Early morning exercise in the Sachsenwald”]
A4. “Du bist schön” (4:05) [“You are beautiful”]

B1. “Kein Frieden” (3:34) [“No peace”]
B2. “Neumond” (3:28)
B3. “Nachttraum” (8:09) [“Night dream”]
B4. “Blauer Morgen” (4:02) [“Blue morning”]

Rahn produced the album in January 1982 at Chameleon Studio in Hamburg, where Klaus Bohlmann engineered Novalis in sequence with the NDW act Nichts.

Neumond features a gradient-colored gift-wrap image with subtle facial impressions. On original German copies, the injection-molded LP labels present an all-red version of the vintage Vertigo spaceship label.

Discography: